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Analysis of Sydney’s recycled water schemes

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Abstract

Recycled water provides a viable opportunity to partially supplement fresh water supplies as well as substantially alleviate environmental loads. Currently, thousands of recycled water schemes have been successfully conducted in a number of countries and Sydney is one of the leading cities, which has made massive effort to apply water reclamation, recycling and reuse. This study aims to make a comprehensive analysis of recycled water schemes in Sydney for a wide range of end uses such as landscape irrigation, industrial process uses and residential uses (e.g., golf course irrigation, industrial cooling water reuse, toilet flushing and clothes washing etc.). For each representative recycled water scheme, this study investigates the involved wastewater treatment technologies, the effluent quality compared with specified guideline values and public attitudes toward different end uses. Based on these obtained data, multi criteria analysis (MCA) in terms of risk, cost-benefit, environmental and social aspects can be performed. Consequently, from the analytical results, the good prospects of further expansion and exploration of current and new end uses were identified toward the integrated water planning and management. The analyses could also help decision makers in making a sound judgment for future recycled water projects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, 2007, Australia

    Zhuo Chen, Huu Hao Ngo & Wenshan Guo

  2. School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, China

    Xiaochang Wang

Authors
  1. Zhuo Chen
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  2. Huu Hao Ngo
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  3. Wenshan Guo
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  4. Xiaochang Wang
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Correspondence to Huu Hao Ngo.

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Chen, Z., Ngo, H.H., Guo, W. et al. Analysis of Sydney’s recycled water schemes. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 7, 608–615 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-012-0468-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-012-0468-x

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